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- Title
Nursery Nitrogen Loading Improves Field Performance of Bareroot Oak Seedlings Planted on Abandoned Mine Lands.
- Authors
Salifu, K. Francis; Jacobs, Douglass F.; Birge, Zonda K. D.
- Abstract
Although mine reclamation sites are important targets for ecological restoration, they are generally difficult to regenerate successfully. We evaluated the importance of nursery nutrient loading as a new approach to enhance forest restoration on abandoned mine lands. Northern red oak ( Quercus rubra) and White oak ( Q. alba) seedlings were nitrogen (N) loaded for 18 weeks at a bareroot nursery in southern Indiana, United States. Fertility treatments followed conventional or modified exponential functions to synchronize N supply with plant demand. Subsequently, nursery-grown seedlings were outplanted the following year onto a mine reclamation site in southwestern Indiana to evaluate effects of nursery N loading on first-year field performance. Nursery N loading promoted total plant dry mass production 25–129% in Red oak and 50–184% in White oak compared to unfertilized plants. Nitrogen loading increased N content 88–145% and potassium (K) content 16–71% for Red oak and N content 124–250% and K content 16–93% for White oak relative to controls. When outplanted, N loading resulted in high seedling survival (>84%) and increased total plant dry mass production 14–30% for Red oak and 23–52% for White oak. Nitrogen loading increased plant N uptake 14–102% in Red oak and 32–105% in White oak under field conditions. Exponential N loading demonstrates potential as a viable technique to improve seedling outplanting performance and reclamation success in Indiana and elsewhere.
- Subjects
FOREST restoration; NITROGEN fertilizers; BAREROOT tree seedlings; FOREST nurseries; SEEDLINGS; ABANDONED mines &; the environment
- Publication
Restoration Ecology, 2009, Vol 17, Issue 3, p339
- ISSN
1061-2971
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1526-100X.2008.00373.x